My last post appeared 7th of this month,today is 21.A lot had happened in between.Pandit Ravi shankar ,the  maestro left us for the heavenly abode.God bless his soul.He was the true ambassador of India ,a real Bharat ratna.
Last Sunday a gruesome crime happened in Delhi.A girl was raped in a moving bus.Rape is a common occurrence in India specially in Delhi but what made it stand out was the brutal way it was carried out .To day is 21 December 2012.The doomsday.The world is supposed to end today in a cataclysm.I don't know about the world,but it certainly the worlds end for that poor girl.
The month of December brings joy to every one.It brings hope.May it spread everywhere.Specially to that girl who is battling for her life.Merry Christmas to all.

Food For Thought & A desert

Hi guys,wish you a happy week end.Before i start explaining my next recipe, let me ask you a question. An important question.A question of...er...life of freedom or two or three years behind the bars.Those of you,who are wondering what is it all about-wait.You can guess it from the question I am about to ask.The question is -are you guys ANNOYED with the recipe i try to dish out every week or do my blog make any INCONVENIENCE to you in any way?Plz don't laugh.The situation is very grim to say the least.Very serious.Have you noticed the two words i typed in capitals?INCONVENIENCE &ANNOYANCE are two words related to sec. 66A of IT act.Those who are still wondering ,follow the case of two unfortunate teenagers of Mumbai.And dont forget that we have our own Ambikesh mahapatra too.
Lets have the desert yaar.

GOKUL PITHA: 

Ingredients:coconut grated & then ground to pulp
Milk solids
Sugar
Batter:Flour, milk, kalai dal (ground)-mix them well to make a batter of medium consistency.
Sugar syrup.
Procedure:Take coconut, milk solids sugar in a pan & mix them well over a oven until brown.Take small portions from the mixture to make small flattened rounds.Place a raisin or two over each round.
Dip the rounds  into the batter & fry in white oil.
Place the pithas into the sugar syrup.
To make syrup mix equal portions of sugar & water & heat over a oven until the mixture takes the consistency of a mild glue.

HELLO

Hi i hope you have tried and tested the recipe i described in my last post yesterday.I am not going to reveal any recipe today.I just visit you because I'm in the net right now,and i just can't do without saying hello to you guys.So be cheerful,& bon apatite.

NARKELER KOCHURI

Hi guys.Last time you learned to make 'mangsher kochuri'.To day you would learn to make 'kochuries' with coconut fillings.Note down the recipe:-

NARKELER KOCHURI

Ingredients;-

coconut-1/2

Chopped onions-100 grams.

Chopped ginger-50 grams.

Salt

Sugar-2/3 spoon full.

Raisins-25 grams.

Garam masala (cardamom,cinnamon,clove)-a little.

White oil.

.Flower-300 grams.

Procedure-

Grate the coconut & mix chopped onions,ginger, salt, sugar, raisins, crushed garam masala with it.Now make dough with the flour.Take two little portions from it & flatten them.Place a bit of coconut filling between the two before locking the two halves by twisting the ends.Fry until brown.

HAPPY DIWALI

Tomorrow we will be celebrating the great festival of light-Diwali.Whole country will join to celebrate it by  decorating their homes with lighted candles,oil lamps or electric lamps, & by  exploding crackers.Keeping in mind the fabulous feast ahead which accompanies every Indian festival i present a simple recipe which is simple to make and easy on your stomach.Here is the recipe.

CAULIFLOWER YOGURT CURRY:

INGREDIENTS:Cauliflower-1(big)

 Onion-1 (grated)

 Garlic paste-one tea spoon full

 Ginger paste- 2 spoon full

 Sour yogurt-200gms

 Green chili -3-4 (chopped)

 Bay leaves-2

 Raisins-about ten-fifteen gms

 Turmeric,salt,sugar,garam masala (cardamom,Cinnamon, clove) as required.

Green peas -a hand full

.Mustard oil-200 gms.            

Procedure:

Cut cauliflower into big pieces Marinate the pieces with onion,ginger garlic paste,bay leaves,salt,sugar,turmeric,raisins, 100 gms oil for two hours..Heat the rest of the oil in the pan .Crackle the garam masala.Add the marinated cauliflower into it.Cook for sometime with the lid on.

about nothing

I just checked in to say hi to you.Have you tried the recipe i described in my last post?I hope i explained it rightly.But i have no way to know unless you respond - negatively or positively, any response will do.I don't have any recipe with me to day,but i am in a chatty mood. so i will talk .I do not talk much verbally but i talk a lot in my mind.Most of those talk are either monologues or dialogue with persons imagined or real.Don't worry I'm not going to bombard you with all those gibberish. So by for now .Have a good day.

I should have gone straight in to explaining some recipe but before that I owe you some explaining for my long absence.While you missed me all those day es (or did you ) i was with my family (mother, brothers,& their children) in Bhagalpur enjoying the celebration of  Durga puja ( worshipping mother Durga-the Goddess)-the prime religious festival of bangali hindoos.For me & many others durga puja becomes a social event to be celebrated with family & friends.And what better way to celebrate a festival than to indulge spacial food made at your own home.Enough talking.Here is a recipe i enjoyed making,& eating too.

MANGSER KOCHURI:- Ingredients-meat-250gms

   flower-250gms

  ghee(refined butter)-250gms

  coriander powder

  Cinnamon powder

 black pepper powder

 clove powder

 ginger paste

 chili paste

 cardamom powder

 chick-pea-50gms

Make dough using ghee& water kneading well.Fry the chick peas in ghee & grind.Mix the ground chick-peas &other ingredients with the meat & make a dry soup.Take small portions of the dough ,fill them with the meat & roll them with a rolling pin to make small chapatis.Heat oil in a pan & fry the chapatis until brown.

Food for thought

The people of the part of the world where i live in are in a dilemma.We are going to face some tough measures in the course of an economic reform.First step has already been taken.The yearly consumption of gas cylinders per house has been fixed to SIX !Yes you read it right.Which means one cylinder per two month (off course our hard working, honest &sincere,always thinking about the common people- ministers use  at least twenty times more than that per month).Now the dilemma we common people are facing is that:should we stick to our age old of tradition of cooking or switch to a cooking which our cave dueling fore fathers started at the dawn of our human civilization.Think about it.

Here i am again after so many days.i was struck with a throat infection & fever which kept me attached to my bade for all those days.Now I'm filling fine & hungry too.So let us continue with our ILISH preparation.The unique point of this recipe is that it is done without any oil.Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:Ilish -300 gms
Kashmir chili ,seeds removed.
Turmeric powder1/2 teaspoon.
Whole coriander seeds-one big spoon full.
Tamarind-1 pod
Dried mango- 1 piece
salt
Coconut-1/2 grated
Procedure: Marinate the fish with salt & little turmeric for 1/2 an hour. Make a paste of kashmir chili,turmeric, coriander seeds & grated coconut.Place the pan on the oven &add the paste (no oil).Add little  water& fry for some time while stirring.Mix tamarind with the fried paste & add plenty of water.add dried mango. when the mixture comes into boil add the fish.Cook on a low flame until the fish is well done.Serve with steamed rice.
Have you noticed? The preparation is completely oil free.

More Ilish

Here is another recipe of Ilish while the season lasts.

   

   Ilish Makhani

Ingredients: Ilish-500 gms.

Yogurt-2 table spoon

Tomato-1 diced

Onions-2 ,grated

Sugar-2 teaspoon

Garlic-2 cloves, grated

Turmeric-a little

Mustard powder-2-teaspoon

Kashmir chili powder-2 teaspoon

Mustard oil-150 gms

Salt- as required.

Fry the fish and keep aside.Take oil in a deep pan and add onion & garlic paste.Fry for sometime.Add sugar & tomato.Continue to fry.When the tomato becomes a little tender add yogurt,mustard powder,chili powder, salt & turmeric.After frying for some more time add 1\2 cup of water & the fish pieces.

Flavour of the season

By the flavour I meant culinary flavor.And when you are talking Bengali cuisine at this time of the year,the flavor must be -Ilish.Yes.The rest of the world call it Hilsa but we Bengalis call it Ilish,the fish-a part of our culture.
I will present a simple recipe to day which is called -Ilish Vapa (steamed Ilish).
Ingredients:-Ilish (the whole fish should not be less than 500 grams) cut into pieces.  
                  Mustard past
                  Mustard oil
                  Salt   
                 Turmeric powder.  
Make mustard paste with green chillies (as many as you can withstand).Mix salt and turmeric powder to it.Add the fish.Smear paste thoroughly over the pieces.Put the whole thing in a container.Add mustard oil (about two table spoon full,- more if you are not that health conscious).Place whole green chillies, splited ,over the mixture.Close the container tightly.Now take two cups of water in a pressure cooker and place the container into it.Close the lid and cook.Two or three whistles would be sufficient.Try it.Its very simple and tastes great.Should be eaten with hot steamed rice. Enjoy it.                 

The week hasn't ended yet

hi guys.sorry i couldn't squeezed out enough time from my daily routine to wright my blog.I promised one recipe every week; which i think, is going   to be broken this time .But the week is not ended yet,may be i would come up with a recipe tomorrow.What about some feedback from you?It will surely be a huge favor for me.

EID MUBARAK

Happy eid to everybody.Let peace & prosperity showers on everyone.

Last week you learned to cook 'mochar ghonto'; this week you would learn to make 'Thorer ghonto'.Thore'( o is pronounced as  in more) is tender inner portion of the banana plant.This is a very simple recipe which goes well with steamed rice.here is the recipe:-
THORER GHONTO
1. Chop it finely and boil it in a little water with salt.don't throwaway the extra water.Mash it with some mustard seeds paste (you should decide the amount according to your taste).
2 Now heat some mustered oil in a pan & add two or three dried red chilies & some mustard seeds.fry a bit & when the mustard seeds cracks up & you can smell the aroma of the fried chilis & mustard seeds ,add the mashed thore in to it.Add salt & sugar for test .Fry well.

Mochar Ghonto

Here is the recipe of the week.Its called 'mochar ghonto'.Bengalis use every part of a banana plant.The tender interior of the stem,the fruit(unripe & ripe},the flower,all are part of their delicacies.Even banana leaves are of use. They are used in making 'Paturies'(a fevered delicacy which i will reveal to you in my subsequent posts) & foods traditionally were used to be served on banana leaves in Bengal,specially on festive occasions. 
Mochar ghonto uses the flower(mocha),of the banana plant.Mocha(ch pronounced as in churn) looks like a cone covering small elongated flowers  with rough reddish brown looking flaps.Flowers are plucked one by one & non edible parts are separated. You can easily identify the non edible parts by looking for two parts of the flower:one is a pin like structure in the middle & the other is a artificial looking translucent petal covering the flower.Here is the complete recipe:

Mochar Ghonto:- 

                       1  chop the flowers finely after separating the non edible parts & cook in a pressure cooker adding  water with a pinch of  turmeric & salt..After one or two whistles take out the contents & drain away the water.

                      2  To the boiled flowers  mix 1.5 tea spoon full of ginger& cumin paste 
little salt, 
sugar
chili powder
a pinch or two of wheat flour. 
 3   mash the mixture.
4   Heat a little mustered oil in a pan,add a couple of bay leaves & cumin seeds for tempering.
5   Add the mashed mixture & stir- fry for few minutes.when you are done add some ghee(refined butter) to it & mix well.And that's it.you have your 'mochar ghonto'.To make it more interesting you can add fried & crushed 'bori'(dried blobs of pureed pulses, most commonly lentils) or grated coconut or fried papad(you can find them at any Indian grocer's store if you are living out side India)Just sprinkle them over it.
 

Hi there.its been a long long gap.I do apologize for that.I'll try to be regular from now on.When i started this blog,my intention was to share the home made bengali cuisine i enjoy so much with you.Then i started to share my other thoughts too.So i added 'ETC' to the name of my blog.From now on you will have at least one recipe once a week.